Aaron Thorsen, The Rookie

 Last night, I watched an episode of the rookie where a new rookie came into the station, and he was completely judged from the moment he walked in because there was a false accusation against him for murdering his best friend. Now, obviously, if there was any evidence that he actually did it, he would still be in jail and would not be a cop. Even his training officer was incredibly mean and very biased against him. Did not listen to anything he had to say: she didn't care; she didn’t think he knew anything. Even after being cleared, all these people still judged him and didn’t want to accept him as a police officer. There were still people who looked at him like he was dangerous or a threat to the community because he was a police officer. I personally found this very important as a topic because this highlights how the public perception can shape someone’s identity no matter what. This also connects to real life, how rumors and lies can change somebody’s life for the worst. I remember in the episode the father of his best friend did nothing but torture him and complain and do everything he could to try to get Erin in trouble because he swore he murdered his son. Once Aaron‘s training officers really noticed that this situation took a toll on him, and he somehow convinced her that he did not do it even though he was cleared like I said, she apologized to the father and consoled him as much as she could, but she did also tell him that he was let go; therefore, they do not believe he did it overall, I feel like his introduction to the show was a really good example of how TV can represent real issues about rumors and public portrayal and how quickly other people’s representation of you can leave a mark.